WEBVTT - Magic Johnson: How to Design the Next Act of Your Life 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:06.880 January Inauguration Day marked twenty years since I left the 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:11.240 White House. I love being president, and I've often said 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:14.000 that if it weren't for term limits, I would have 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:16.079 stayed as long as the American people would have me. 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:18.639 But I've always thought it was a waste of time 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.080 to spend your days wishing you could do something you 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:23.680 can't do anymore. You have to find new ways to 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:27.520 put your passions and your talents to good youth. So 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:29.880 when I was getting ready to leave office, I knew 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:31.680 I had to look to the future and figure out 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:34.720 what my next chapter was going to be. In two 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:37.239 thousand one, I started the Clinton Foundation so that I 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:39.880 could devote my time and energy the issues I cared about, 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:42.640 where I thought I can make a difference, and where 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.479 I could help a lot of people. Looking back over 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:48.760 the last two decades now, these twenty years have been 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:52.479 some of the most rewarding of my life. So why 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:56.200 am I telling you this? Because no one should ever 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.279 assume that their best, most important, most productive days are 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.360 behind them. We all have the ability to keep growing 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:05.920 and changing, learning and giving. And today I'm joined by 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:09.399 someone who's extraordinary life has proved that as well as 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:14.039 anyone I've ever known. I met Magic Johnson when I 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:18.520 ran for president and shortly after he'd been diagnosed with 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:23.080 HIV and retired from the NBA. Had followed his career 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:25.680 from his time at Michigan State through his incredible run 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:29.200 with the Lakers. But from the time I first met him, 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:31.880 I've been more impressed by who he is as a 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:36.200 person than anything you've done on the basketball court. He's 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:39.679 built an amazing career in business and taking special pride 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:43.399 in shattering the myth that businesses can't thrive and underserved 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:48.360 urban communities, and he started the Magic Johnson Foundation, first 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:53.040 to raise awareness of HIV AIDS, then with an expanded 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:57.880 mission to combat other challenges, including poverty and health disparities. 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:02.120 When we first met, he told me he wanted to 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:05.400 do as well as both an entrepreneur and an activist 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.680 as he had as an athlete. He studied it, he 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:11.840 worked at it, just as he studied basketball games and 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:15.000 practice for hours on end, and he had the discipline 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:18.600 not to waste that emotional time and energy wishing he 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:23.840 could do what he couldn't do anymore. So I'm honored 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:27.560 to introduce and c double a champion or Wempid Gold Medal. 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:30.440 Was five time NBA Champion, three time m v P, 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.840 twelve time All Star, and founder of the Magic Johnson Foundation, 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:40.160 Chairman and CEO of Maggie Johnson Enterprise. My now a 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:48.040 longtime friend, Maggie Johnson. Thanks for being here, Magic Well, 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:50.400 thank you for having me, sir. You know I love you, 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:54.920 and uh, you know, we've had such an incredible friendship 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:57.919 since the first day we met. We went in Mexico together. 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:00.480 I don't know if you remember this. Carlos him had 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:05.079 his foundation event. He was giving scholarships to I believed 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:08.800 ten thousand kids. That day in the evening time, he 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:11.480 had a dinner at his house for all these people 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:15.440 who were giving them money for his foundation. And you 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:19.280 came up and you were the speaker, and you gave 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.760 one of the most incredible speeches. But also you were 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.520 working the crowd at the same time. So I said, 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:33.640 I'm gonna steal some of that. I'm gonna take some 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:39.640 of that from President Clinton and how you always when 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:43.760 you had the meeting line, when everybody came up to 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:46.880 meet you as the president or just meet you at 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:50.160 that gala, you looked every single person in the eye 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:52.440 and said hello to them and made them feel like 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:55.320 they were special. And I took that from you. Again. 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:59.200 You don't know that this little black boy from Lansing, Michigan, 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:06.880 who idolized you and who watch your every move and 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:10.760 you made me better. Well, thank you. Let's do just 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:15.960 a little bit of basketball and then talk about your 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:20.159 life since then. To tell us a little bit about 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:25.240 growing up, how you got into basketball, and how you 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.720 decided you wanted to stay and play for Michigan State. Well, 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:31.280 I grew up with six sisters and three brothers, so 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:34.640 a big family. My father worked for General Motors for 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:40.039 thirty years and one award for never being late and 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:43.479 never missing a day in thirty years. Yeah, so you 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:48.719 see where I got my work ethic from. And so 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:52.839 I'm just I'm built just like my father. I'm a worker. 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:57.120 And so my mother worked for the school district in 0:04:57.160 --> 0:05:02.720 the school cafeteria. The one ain't they stressed was education. Um, 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:06.400 they let me know early on. Yes, we were happy 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.240 that you play basketball, but if you don't get good grades, 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:12.479 you won't be playing at all. So that kept me 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:15.440 in the books. President Clinton, you'd be happy to know 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:19.400 that all my sisters our teachers in the school system, 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:23.680 and so they teach young people today in Lansing, Michigan. 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:27.159 I'm really proud of all of them. And then I 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:30.839 fell in love with the game watching basketball every Saturday, 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:34.320 every Sunday with my father. He would sit on the floor, 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:36.320 so I would say, sit right next to him, and 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:41.560 I would watch college basketball on Saturday. And then on Sunday, 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:44.239 they made sure that we went to church as a family. 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:46.880 And then every Sunday, no matter what was going on, 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:49.760 I don't care how many games I had, we had 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:54.360 to have dinner on Sunday as a family. Everybody had 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:58.120 to be there. There's no excuses. That's why I'm a 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:01.360 family guy today, you know. But I fell in love 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:04.040 with the game just watching him with my father. And 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:07.600 then every time I would watch an NBA game, and 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:11.880 at that time, Bob Couzy uh, Bill Russell of the Celtics, 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:15.920 John Havitek of the Celtics, Oscar Robinson uh. Then of 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:19.000 course when Kareem with lou All Sunder with the Milwaukee Bucks, 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:23.160 I would go out and I would emulate what they 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:28.440 were doing on TV. So I would practice all their moves. Uh. 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:32.120 And I played basketball all the time, President Clinton. I mean, 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:35.320 it wasn't a day that I didn't play basketball. I 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:38.359 used to shovel the snow off the ground and I 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:43.720 would play basketball. And my mom was like, she said, 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:47.240 that boy just loved to play basketball. And it was. 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:51.720 This funny thing was in the summertime. My father also 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:56.159 had a trash hauling service. Because so many mouths of feed, 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:59.560 he had to take on a second job. And so 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:03.520 every day in the summertime, Monday through Saturday, I would 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:06.800 work on the truck with my father, picking up people's trash. 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:09.720 But I would say this, President Clinton, this is the 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:12.600 greatest moment of my life. What happened to me, and 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:16.360 this thing changed my life. So during the school year, 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:20.960 I would get on my father's truck on Saturdays only. 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:26.080 And so it was it must have been seven below zero, 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:29.760 and my job was to get all the loose trash 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:35.120 around the barrels and put it on the truck. It 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:38.320 was so cold that morning that I got half to 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:42.200 trash and I jumped into the cabin of the truck. 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:46.280 And you appreciate this. By the time I closed the door, 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:51.800 my father had opened the door and grabbed me and 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:55.120 took me back to the ice wood where the trash 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:58.000 was stuck in, and he said, Irvin, if you do 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:02.600 this job halfway, you do everything in your life halfway. 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:07.320 You're practice basketball halfway, you will study half the time. 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:11.679 I want you to go get the shovel and break 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:13.800 up the ice and get that trash out of there 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:16.880 and put it on the truck. And at that moment 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:20.600 in time, I became a perfectionist and everything I was 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:23.760 doing in my life, I had to do it right 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:27.880 because my father taught me that lesson early on. That's 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:30.560 why I am the man that I am today. I 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:36.280 have my mother smile and her personality and want to 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:40.400 help everybody. And I'm just like my father. I'm a worker. 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:43.880 I get a great joy out of out of working, 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:47.760 and it's because of him. So that's my background really 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:52.080 and growing up and landing. But the great thing President Clinton, 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:55.280 I took every school I went to had never won 0:08:55.320 --> 0:09:00.000 a championship. So I started in elementary. I want everything 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:04.360 go championship from the second grade all the way through 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:08.200 the sixth grade, from the seventh grade middle school, I 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:11.840 won every championship seven, eighth and ninth grade. Then when 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.400 I got to high school, I got bussed across town. 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:17.800 So what happened was I was supposed to go to 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:21.720 an all black school in my neighborhood, and they were 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:24.560 powerhouse in the state of Michigan, and I wanted to 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:29.000 be a part of that tradition. Busing had just came 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:34.200 into Michigan, and I'm only a ten minute walk from 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.600 my high school. I thought I was going to Well, 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:41.319 now I'm taking a twenty minute bus ride across town. 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:45.120 I got there. The first week or two there was 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:49.760 fighting every single day. So the third week, President Clinton, 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:55.320 our principal principal troop, was waiting for the bus, and 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:58.320 as the bus pulled up, he said, Irvan Johnson, come 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:03.840 to my office. He says, um, there's been fighting intention 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:09.120 in this high school for two weeks. I wanted to stop. 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:14.240 So I assembled all the black students in the gym 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:17.760 and Irvin, you're gonna talk to him. And he had 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:20.760 a football player who was our best football player, who 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:24.240 havn't be white, and he told him, you're gonna go 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.280 talk to the white students. President Clinton, I said, I 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:33.360 just got here. I'm only fifteen years old. This juniors 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:36.320 or seniors, why don't you get one of them to 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:39.040 talk to the student. He said, no, they won't listen 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:43.480 to them, but they'll listen to you. So President Clinton, 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:47.600 just at that moment, I didn't know. I I became 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:51.840 a leader outside of basketball, right. I I've always led 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:55.800 on the basketball court, but in school or my peers, 0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:00.720 I never led them. So here I am speaking to 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:04.800 all the students ensure enough we stopped fighting. I told 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:06.920 him we had to be here, so let's make the 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:11.600 best of it. Let's get our education. And that was 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:15.600 the best. Not only that moment was the best thing 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:18.960 for me, but also the three years going to that 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:22.520 high school because I learned to work with people who 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:25.640 didn't look like me. I learned to get along with 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:28.760 people who didn't look like me, because that was going 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:32.679 to be my world, right And so I'm so happy 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:35.960 that I got bussed across town and that I was 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:39.760 able to work with people who didn't look like me 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:41.520 and go to school with people who didn't look like 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:44.839 with me who became my friends too. And then I 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:49.920 led that school to his first state basketball championship at 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:53.199 the same time, So everything that's came together for me. 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:58.800 So those are that's how I grew up. Well, it's 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:01.000 a good story. And I want people to listen to it, 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:04.240 especially after we've just been through a few years when 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:08.720 people act like our differences are all that matter, and 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:12.480 the truth is that diverse groups make better decisions in 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:16.520 every endeavor in life. Thank you for telling the story. 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:20.840 I also want to thank you for explaining where you 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.840 fell in love with basketball, watching those games with your 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:25.840 dad and then going out and trying to emulate what 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:29.600 you saw, because I followed your career from the time 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:32.840 you were in college and I could never figure out 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.160 why in the living daylights I was looking at a 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:43.640 guard who could shoot a skyhook. Now, I know you 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:48.439 watched Kareem do it, didn't we may have unearthed a 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:55.520 very important part of basketball history. What we again. You know, 0:12:55.920 --> 0:13:00.240 he was the most dominant player at that time, so 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:04.280 growing up, he was just a beautiful basketball player to watch. 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:09.720 I mean, the sky hook, the footwork, the balance. Also too. 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:14.200 People don't realize too, he's a smart man, too, super smart. 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:18.760 I mean, he's so intelligent and so um. I put 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:21.560 it in my game and sure enough, I shot that 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:24.520 skyhood a number of times in the n s A 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:29.360 Tournament and then thank God that the Lakers came calling, 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:33.960 and uh, I idolized Kareem, so now I'm getting a 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:40.839 chance to play with him. Oh, we'll be right back 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:53.320 when you were on that Dream Team in ninety two. First, 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:55.960 what was it like you were all those guys who 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:58.959 were older than you were, and were you aware at 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:02.240 the time the impact here we're all having across the 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:07.199 world and making basketball maybe the world's favorite global sport. 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:11.000 It's only sport. Really, Basketball is the only thing to 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:15.600 seriously challenge soccer is the world sport for women and 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:21.320 men too. First of all, just felt honored to represent 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:26.520 my country, to be selected to the Dream Team, the 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:30.880 first time pro basketball players were allowed to play in 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:34.880 the Olympics. UM. And then it was on my bucket 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:38.320 list to always play with Michael Jordan's and Larry Bird 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:43.160 and we had fought hard against each other for so 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:46.720 many years, but now finally we're gonna get a chance 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:51.040 to play with each other. And so President Clinton, I'm 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:54.560 used to coming down the middle for the Los Angeles Lakers, 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:57.480 and I got James Worthy on my right, I got 0:14:57.560 --> 0:15:01.960 Byron Scott on my left, k rambas Is trailing, and 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:05.200 then Kareem f Jule Jabbar will come down later on 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.720 if we don't get a layup, a dunk or a 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:10.440 jump shot. Here, come down and shoot the Scott hook. 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:16.040 But now I have Michael Jordan's on my right. Oh man, 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:21.800 Larry Bird is on my left. Charles Barkley is trailing 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:29.800 Scottie Pippen is trailing Clyde Drexler, Chris Mullen, Man, David Robinson, 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:35.560 Patrick Ewen. I mean you're sitting there, John Stockton. One 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:39.880 a team. It was so amazing. We committed to each 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:45.240 other and this is what changed everything. First day of practice, 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:48.720 Chuck Daly said, President Clinton, Michael Jordan, You're going to 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:53.400 be the captain of the Dream Team. And Michael Jordan said, no, 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:57.240 I don't deserve to be the captain of the Dream team. 0:15:57.360 --> 0:16:00.280 Magic Johnson and Larry Bird should be the captain of 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:04.920 the Dream Team. So at that moment in time, that 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:08.240 meant everybody had to leave their ego at the door, 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:13.480 because Michael Jordan just said, hey, I'm good just being 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:16.640 on this team, so everybody else gotta be good too. 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:20.360 So it made our job, Larry and our job easier 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:23.760 to lead the team because Michael Jordan's just said, hey, 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:26.720 I'm just here, I'm gonna do my job, and everybody 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:28.960 else should do their job so we can win the 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:33.200 gold medal. Well, we blew everybody out by over forty 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:36.960 two points a game. It's the best basketball was ever 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:40.680 involved in it in my life. And then last but 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:44.600 not least, it was a scrimmage. It was a game 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:49.960 that nobody saw. That was the greatest basketball that we 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:55.080 all ever played in our entire lives. Chuck Daly said, Okay, 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:58.000 this is what we're gonna do. I'm a divide the 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:03.160 team East versus the West. So Michael Jordan's and Scottie 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:07.080 Pippen with the Bulls. Charles Barkley played for Philadelphia, he's 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:11.000 over there. Larry Bird of course with the Celtics. Patrick 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:13.919 Ewing was at starting center because he played for the Knicks. 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:17.200 On our team, of course, we had all the West guys, 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:22.360 so that man, David Robinson, Carl Malone, Chris Mullen, Clyde Drexler, 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:26.679 and John stocktor So he said, all right, you guys 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:29.240 gonna go head to head, and I want to see 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:34.640 who's the best. President Clinton. Oh my goodness, I had 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:38.920 never seen a group of men come together on both 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:42.960 sides and play this game the way we played it. 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:47.560 It was just unbelievable. You got everything that you would 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:51.080 love in the game of basketball. If you wanted great passes, 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:54.720 you got great passes. You wanted to see jump shots, 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:58.760 you got that. You want to see defense. Patrick Ewing 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:02.040 and David Robinson was blocking shots left and right. I mean, 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:07.240 it was just unbelievable basketball, and everybody took it to 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:10.920 the next level. I've seen everybody play. All these men 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:14.280 played before, but they didn't play like that. They played 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:18.080 to another level. If you can imagine Michael Jordan and 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:22.000 Larry Bird going to another level. It was just unbelievable 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:25.239 to witness and to be a part of. These are 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:29.200 the two plays that really stood out to me. Patrick 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:31.680 Uning had a breakaway down the middle. He came down 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:34.000 and he thought he was gonna dunk it. David Robinson 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:37.840 jumped straight up with two hands and blocked it, and 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:41.280 we all went crazy because how could he just block 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:45.280 this shot that this man was gonna tear the rim down? Right? 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:48.280 And I came down and I threw a no look 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:51.240 pass to Karl Malone and he went down and almost 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:54.040 tore the basket down. So it was a time out 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:58.359 and I had to I like to mess with Michael 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.680 Jordan's So I said, m j if you don't turn 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:05.320 into air Jordan, we're gonna blow you guys out. President Clinton, 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:08.720 what did I do that for? This guy came out 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:13.320 the next five possession and he hit five straight three 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:17.680 pointers and then he did one of the greatest moves 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:21.440 I've ever seen in my life. Now, he came down 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:26.240 the right side and David Robinson jumped and he thought 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:29.480 he had to block. Well, Michael Jordan just held the 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:32.960 ball and waited till he went all the way down 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:38.520 to the floor and looked at him as he was 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:41.639 still in the air, and he turned and did a 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:46.840 three sixty and dunked it. And it was like, that's 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.760 the greatest shot I've ever seen in my life. Who 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:52.800 hangs in the air that long? And that's what you 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:56.639 got out of this game. Just unbelievable, play after play 0:19:56.720 --> 0:20:00.879 after play. And finally Chuck Daily that when the clock 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:05.280 ran out the score was tied, and Chuck Daty said, well, 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:08.639 do you want to go into overtime? And we said yeah, 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:11.720 But everybody felt we were playing so hard against each 0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:16.880 other somebody may get hurt, right, And so that ended 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:20.199 in a tie. But let me tell you that was 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:22.600 the greatest basketball I've ever seen and been a part of. 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:27.880 And those memories last forever. And look at how many 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:32.119 players from overseas we have planning in the NBA today 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:36.520 because of the Dream Team. What a what great story. 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:41.520 So there you are, and then all of a sudden, 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:46.480 it's over. When you gave up something you love so 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:52.000 much and did so well, did you just instantaneously remake 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:54.959 yourself or had you been preparing for this emotionally and 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:58.800 psychologically a long time. Did you have a good plan. 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:02.840 I was prepared for life after basketball because I had 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:05.840 two dreams in my life. I've always wanted to play 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:08.439 in the NBA and I also wanted to become a businessman. 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:12.840 I met two African American businessmen in Lansing, Michigan. I 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:17.880 didn't know that African Americans could own businesses. But Joe 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:22.720 Ferguson and Greg Eaton, two gentlemen who also supported you, 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:25.840 a very good friend of mine, and they showed me 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:29.919 that we could own businesses. And I asked them one 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:32.560 day to become my mentors, asked them for a job. 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:36.159 They gave me my first real job, and they're still 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:41.439 great mentors and friends. Of mine even today. So I 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:46.600 was preparing for life after basketball during the time I 0:21:46.640 --> 0:21:49.600 was playing in the NBA. Dr Jerry Buster, owner of 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:53.760 the Lakers, became my first mentor, and uh then I 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:57.400 had guys Michael Ovis, Peter Gruber, all these guys became 0:21:57.440 --> 0:22:01.600 my mentors while I was still playing m and then 0:22:01.680 --> 0:22:06.160 when in when we made the announcement that I had 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:13.480 HIV um, it devastated me. And I want to say 0:22:13.560 --> 0:22:18.520 to everybody out there, it took me a year to 0:22:18.680 --> 0:22:21.200 really to get over the fact that I wasn't playing 0:22:21.200 --> 0:22:25.119 the game that I loved, the game that brought so 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:29.560 much joy and happiness to my life. The first year, 0:22:29.720 --> 0:22:33.919 it took me time to understand what I had to 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:39.160 deal with living first with HIV. When I got the diagnosis, 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:43.199 I remember that HIV and as at that time, was 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:46.280 a death sentence. I said, how can I be here 0:22:46.320 --> 0:22:49.600 a long time? The doctor told me three things. He 0:22:49.640 --> 0:22:54.480 said urban Number one, you gotta take your med's. Second, 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:58.359 he said, you gotta be okay with your new status 0:22:58.560 --> 0:23:01.600 because it's all about an attitude in a mindset. Now, 0:23:02.800 --> 0:23:06.160 he said, Third, you gotta work out. I said, now, 0:23:06.240 --> 0:23:08.560 are those are three things I have to do to 0:23:08.680 --> 0:23:10.600 be here a long time. He said, those are the 0:23:10.600 --> 0:23:14.440 three things I think you have to do. And so 0:23:15.520 --> 0:23:17.919 I tell you what really happened to me, President Clinton. 0:23:17.960 --> 0:23:20.840 I'm laying on a couch feeling sorry for myself. This 0:23:20.880 --> 0:23:26.080 is about eight nine months in now. I'm I'm angry, 0:23:26.160 --> 0:23:29.440 I'm upset. I'm not playing basketball. So I came into 0:23:29.480 --> 0:23:34.360 the house after working out and my wife said get out. 0:23:35.359 --> 0:23:40.639 And what she said, no, get out? So Cookie is 0:23:40.680 --> 0:23:43.000 telling me to get out the house. I said, get out? 0:23:43.000 --> 0:23:47.000 What are you talking about? She said, when you come back, 0:23:47.040 --> 0:23:48.760 I want you to be the man that I married. 0:23:50.200 --> 0:23:53.040 You've never been a guy who felt sorry for himself. 0:23:53.119 --> 0:23:56.159 You always looked at life said hey, you've dealt with 0:23:56.280 --> 0:23:59.520 things that came your way, and you moved on. You know, 0:23:59.640 --> 0:24:02.240 you moved done with life. You you had dreams of 0:24:02.359 --> 0:24:06.919 becoming a businessman. Now it's time to go after those dreams. 0:24:06.920 --> 0:24:09.960 But you're sitting on this couch feeling sorry for yourself. 0:24:10.160 --> 0:24:14.359 And that's not you. And that's what changed my life. 0:24:15.320 --> 0:24:19.560 So I got up and started working towards becoming a businessman. 0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:24.480 I stopped thinking about trying to come back to the NBA. 0:24:24.600 --> 0:24:30.320 And why I'm not playing and so on. I The 0:24:30.359 --> 0:24:33.480 first thing I did was President Bush at that time, 0:24:33.520 --> 0:24:36.800 asked me to join his Age Commission. I went to 0:24:36.920 --> 0:24:40.800 Boston one day. This was really hurt me. They had 0:24:40.800 --> 0:24:45.560 a brand new hospice, thirty beds. They only had one 0:24:45.920 --> 0:24:49.680 person in that hospice. And I said, wait a minute, 0:24:49.680 --> 0:24:52.919 you got twenty nine beds open and we don't have 0:24:53.000 --> 0:24:57.119 people in there. They said, the certificate process is so 0:24:58.200 --> 0:25:01.879 outrageous that people can and get in. And that that 0:25:02.840 --> 0:25:06.399 President Clinton, I cried. I was so upset that we 0:25:06.520 --> 0:25:09.840 had this facility to take care of people who are 0:25:09.880 --> 0:25:13.880 living with HIV and a's and and and people who 0:25:13.920 --> 0:25:17.240 need it beds, who needed rooms and they're on the street, 0:25:18.240 --> 0:25:24.280 and and so that just hurt me. And I was 0:25:24.320 --> 0:25:29.040 so happy when you became the president, and the funds 0:25:29.040 --> 0:25:33.160 that you committed also to you speaking up, and look 0:25:33.200 --> 0:25:37.879 at what happened. The results got better, the meds got better, 0:25:38.000 --> 0:25:42.160 we had more medicine. We had now people could get jobs, 0:25:42.200 --> 0:25:46.120 and some of the discrimination stopped against people who were 0:25:46.119 --> 0:25:49.040 living with hibn A. So a lot of things change 0:25:49.440 --> 0:25:53.120 with your leadership. And so I want to say thank you. 0:25:53.160 --> 0:25:57.919 But my wife helped me to then jump start my 0:25:58.040 --> 0:26:02.840 business career, and then things just opened up for me 0:26:03.040 --> 0:26:07.639 and I did all the businesses and all the things 0:26:07.720 --> 0:26:11.320 I always wanted to do. I started the Magic Johnson Foundation. 0:26:12.280 --> 0:26:16.080 We raised millions and millions of dollars for people were 0:26:16.119 --> 0:26:19.560 living with HIV and AIDS. Also those who couldn't pay 0:26:19.560 --> 0:26:21.560 for their medicine. We were able to help them pay 0:26:21.600 --> 0:26:25.280